Jailbreak threatens to destabilise Haiti

Haiti was on the point of disintegration last night after a jailbreak in which a political militant and more than 150 prisoners escaped.

Riot police were rushed to Gonaives, the country's second city yesterday after several dozen men attacked the jail with a stolen tractor on Friday to free Amiot Metayer, leader of the 'Cannibal Army', also known as 'Cubain', implicated in political violence that followed a failed coup d'état last year.

It was another indication of the growing chaos that is enveloping Haiti, mired in a two-year political impasse over fraudulent elections that has blocked international aid.

Police, quartered in the same building as the jail, used tear gas but were outgunned. A presidential spokesman said the situation was 'out of control'.

One prisoner was said to have been shot and killed. The courthouse and city hall were set alight and afterwards Metayer and his men burnt tyres and fired automatic weapons in the air.

Metayer was a supporter of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, although his men turned against him after his imprisonment. He was implicated by witnesses in the murder on 17 December of the bodyguard of Luc Mesadieu, a politician in the opposition Democratic Convergence coalition.